I've been on suboxone for almost 5 years now and desperately want to get off of them?

My doctor has had me on suboxone for almost 5 years. I started out on 2 pills a day and eventually swapped to the strips. Im now on half a strip 3 times a day. I want off of these things so bad but am scared that trying to get off with make me wAnt to use other drugs again. I worry all the time about the residual side effects from this medicine and of course the expense is ridiculous. I have no insurance so this is coming out of my pockets. Last march i was accepted in the johnson and johnson here to help program where they pay for your mesicine for you but my time is almost up. I just dont know how i will pay for the medicine. I know that i will have to go thru some withdrawals but i dont know if I'm strong enough to Handle them for long. I have a very high stress and VERY high profile job in the public. All of this could cause me to lose my job. What should I do?Desperate to stop

Responses (2)

If you taper slow enough from the Suboxone, you should be able to get off it without much withdrawals. There is a member here called pattishan61. She has a taper plan on her profile which you can look up through your "friends" page. She explains how to taper without having withdrawals.

Yes, I agree. You can start the taper now. Its slow & easy, and you'll be down to a very small amount before you know it. I just tapered to 1/4 of what I was taking, and felt nothing, with 2-3 weeks in between each mg. drop. I haven't totally eliminated it, but 1mg/day could easily be attained, particularly if you have the strips, like you say. It sounds like you are taking 12 mgs/day. Is that right? If so, start ASAP, and you will be surprised how quickly you can get down to a much lower dose. Drs. tried to start me on a much higher dose than I needed, and I quickly lowered. Check out the member, Robert_325, also. He has the taper plan on the forum side of this site. Good luck!